Sunday September 7th, 2014

Posted at 1:25pm

Windsor has become the first Canadian city to honour Afghanistan veterans with the unveiling of a new monument.

Hundreds of armed services personnel marched to Reaume Park and Coventry Gardens, Sunday morning, to pay tribute to fallen soldiers and living veterans who fought in the Afghanistan war, and NATO Service / Peace Support Operations.

A ceremony honoured fallen Windsor soldier Cpl. Andrew Grenon, who died in Afghanistan six years ago, along with 157 other Canadian soldiers who perished during the war in Afghanistan.

115 fallen Canadian peacekeepers were also honoured.

“The chain of events that would bring Canadian soldiers to Afghanistan began on September 11th, 2001,” said Windsor mayor Eddie Francis. “One hundred and fifty-eight Canadians did not make it back home.”

“The Afghan war in particular has raised a new generation,” he said. “A new generation that lined the sidewalks when Cpl. Grenon’s ceremony took place in our community, a new generation that’s committing itself as a community to always remember.”